children in war movies
this list is to show movies where a child/teenager are the main protagonist or plays a big part in the movie.
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- DirectorYurek BogayeviczStarsHaley Joel OsmentWillem DafoeRichard BanelA twelve-year-old Jewish boy hides with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsSarah MilesDavid HaymanSebastian Rice-EdwardsBill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
- DirectorAleksandr KottStarsAleksey KopashovAndrey MerzlikinPavel DerevyankoA war drama set during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, in which Soviet troops held on to a border stronghold for nine days.
- DirectorPaul FeigStarsBen TibberJim CaviezelJoan PlowrightA twelve-year-old boy escapes from a Bulgarian Communist concentration camp and sets out on a journey to reach Denmark.
- DirectorSøren Kragh-JacobsenStarsPatrick BerginJordan KiziukJack WardenDuring World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
- DirectorDennis BotsStarsMaas BronkhuyzenJoes BrauersMichael NierseDuring WWII, the friendship of two boys is at risk when a girl tells a very personal secret to only one of them.
- DirectorEran RiklisStarsStephen DorffAbdallah El AkalAlice TaglioniBeirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee helps an Israeli fighter pilot escape from PLO captivity because he wants to visit his ancestral family home. En route through war-torn Lebanon their relationship develops into a close bond.
- DirectorJean-Stéphane SauvaireStarsChristophe MinieDaisy Victoria VandyJoseph DuoA cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in the West African Country Liberia.
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsAbraham AttahEmmanuel AffadziRicky AdelayitorA drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
- DirectorGilles de MaistreStarsTewfik JallabYounesse BoudacheSalah TeskoukA Lebanese kid is sent to France on a terrorist mission for "Allah's Army". An Lebanese French kid becomes involved unwittingly. A bond develops between the two, while they become alienated from and independent of the adults in their lives.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsGabriel ByrneEllen BarkinCiarán FitzgeraldGrandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.
- DirectorHarley CokelissStarsTom WilkinsonCharlotte WakefieldMatthew BeardTom travels fifty years to the past after discovering a time machine. He meets May, a little orphan who needs help. Now that he knows his friends' fate and his own, he will try to reorder the events and change their history.
- DirectorAlex HelfrechtJörg TittelStarsÓlafur Darri ÓlafssonFiona ShawOlivia WilliamsA 12-year-old boy rebels after a brutal government labels his father a traitor and imprisons him.
- DirectorEdwin SherinStarsLinda LavinTorquil CampbellLenore HarrisAt the end of World War II Lena Kuchler arrives at a refuge camp in search of her disappeared family members. But at this place she can get no information in her case but only encounters hungry children.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsGaspard ManesseRaphael FejtöFrancine RacetteA French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
- DirectorAngelina JolieStarsSareum Srey MochPhoeung KompheakSveng SocheataCambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge.
- DirectorNewton I. AduakaStarsMamoudu Turay KamaraMariame N'DiayeMamusu KallonEzra is the first film to give an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent's recent civil wars. Ezra is structured around the week-long questioning of a 16 year old boy, Ezra, before a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, created in Sierra Leone in 2002 in the wake of its decade long civil war. This hearing is then inter-cut with chronological flashbacks to pivotal moments during Ezra's ten years in the rebel faction which made him who he is.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsLeonardo DiCaprioDjimon HounsouJennifer ConnellyA fisherman, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond.
- DirectorJean van de VeldeStarsMarco BorsatoAbby Mukiibi NkaagaThekla ReutenChild soldiers in Africa are at the fore in this tale of a white restaurant owner in an African town bordering a conflict zone. When his son's African friend Abu is abducted, he sets out to find the boy, and walks right into a training camp exploiting children like Abu.
- DirectorPepe DanquartStarsAndrzej TkaczKamil TkaczElisabeth Duda8-year-old Srulik flees from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and attempts to survive, at first alone in the forest, and then on a farm as a Christian orphan named Jurek. Throughout his ordeal, he is in danger of losing his Jewish identity. Based on the bestseller by Uri Orlev.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsDorian Le ClechBatyste FleurialPatrick BruelIn occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
- DirectorMartin ZandvlietStarsRoland MøllerLouis HofmannJoel BasmanIn post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.
- DirectorBille AugustStarsPelle HvenegaardMax von SydowErik PaaskeWhen his wife dies, Lasse takes his 12-year-old son, Pelle, from their home in Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsRoman Griffin DavisThomasin McKenzieScarlett JohanssonA young German boy in the Hitler Youth whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
- DirectorMichael SamuelsStarsThomas KretschmannRomola GaraiIain GlenThis is the stark, moving, and ultimately redemptive story of the bonds these children make with one another, and of how the friendships forged at Windermere become a lifeline to a fruitful future.
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsSabuRaymond MasseyRoger LiveseyDuring the British Raj, Captain Carruthers works under cover to track smuggled shipments of arms on the restless Northwest Frontier of India. He fears a full-scale rebellion is brewing. To forestall this, the British governor signs a treaty with the friendly, peace-loving ruler of Tokot, a key kingdom in the region, which is described as four days' march northward from Peshawar. Meanwhile, the king's son, Prince Azim, befriends Carruthers and a British drummer boy, Bill Holder, who teaches him how to play the instrument.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsEdward G. RobinsonFergus McClellandConstance CummingsTen year old Sammy travels 4500 miles on his own from the Suez Canal to Durban, South Africa.
- DirectorBen CooksonStarsNoah SchnappThomas KretschmannFrederick SchmidtDuring the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsDean JonesJoan HackettRonnie ScribnerIn 1939, Daniel, a young Jewish boy, and his attorney father, fight against prejudice in a New England town.
- CreatorWilliam DaviesStarsAmir WilsonRuby Ashbourne SerkisThaddea GrahamTiuri, a teenage squire, answers a call for help that sends him on a perilous mission across the three kingdoms to deliver a secret letter to the King.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMargery WithersIan EastGary CarpThe experiences of two young Jewish boys evacuated from Manchester to Blackpool during the Blitz.
- DirectorLynn RothStarsIdo PortAlfred MolinaGilya SternA coming of age tale of the unlikely bond between a kindly British soldier and a spirited Jewish boy set against the backdrop of the birth of the State of Israel.
- DirectorLynn RothStarsAugust MaturoKen DukenAyelet ZurerKaleb, a beloved German Shepherd, is separated from his Jewish family when the Nuremberg Laws are enacted in WWII Berlin. He is adopted by an SS Officer who trains him to attack and round up Jews at a work camp.
- DirectorPaul ShapiroStarsLoretta SwitRobert JoyKen PogueIt is 1943, and the students at a catholic boarding school decide to hide three Jewish children from the Nazis. To save the children, the members of the boarding school will have to find the courage to risk their own lives in the process.
- CreatorLesean ThomasStarsLaKeith StanfieldMaya TanidaWilliam Christopher StephensHe came from Africa and fought alongside a mighty feudal lord in brutal 16th century Japan. They called him the Black Samurai, and he became a legend.
- DirectorMichael O'HerlihyStarsJames MacArthurNick AdamsJack GingA young Private in the Confederate Army, Willie Prentiss, is assigned to guard a remote river outpost during the American Civil War. Lonely Willie becomes pals with his Union army counterpart, Corporal Jenkins. They hold shooting contests, and trade tobacco for coffee. One day Willie accidentally shoots his own commander, Lt. Mosby, and the Corporal helps him escape court martial by disguising him as an injured Yankee. Willy is shot sneaking home, but manages to make it. He lands up joining the marauders in one exciting caper after another and rejoins Mosby in trying to capture a Union General. Corporal Jenkins is captured, and is soon in love with Willie's cousin.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRussell CrowePaul BettanyBilly BoydDuring the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsTimothée ChalametRebecca FergusonZendayaA noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
- DirectorViktoria FanasiutinaStarsAndrey AndreevViktor DobronravovDarya UrsulyakBased on a true story, these are the exciting events that occurred in the life of the smallest soldier - a hero of the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov. Sergei loses all of his relatives and is adopted by soldiers of the Red Army. The soldiers play games with Sergei in order to preserve his childhood, and he, in order to comply with this honorary title, becomes a true defender of the Motherland.
- DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsMichael Anderson Jr.Oliver GrimmMartin TomlinsonDuring World War II, in a small English coastal town, teenage boys eager to join the army but unable to do so participate in their own homemade private brutal war games with tragic results.
- StarsMarlies EngelRolf BeckerLeslie MaltonFollows a German boys involvement in the Hitler Youth during the pre WWII years.
- DirectorOle BornedalStarsBertram Bisgaard EnevoldsenEster BirchElla Josephine Lund NilssonThe fates of several Copenhagen residents collide when a WWII bombing mission accidentally targets a school full of children.
- DirectorJan Jakub KolskiStarsMagdalena CieleckaMarcin WalewskiAgnieszka GrochowskaMarek is in his early teens and dreams of going to Venice. Although the war makes his plans highly unlikely, the boy won't let his dreams drift away too easily.